"Anniversary Waltz," a comedy by Jerome Chodorov and Joseph Fields, opened on Broadway in 1954. It starred Macdonald Carey and Kitty Carlisle, and was directed by Carlisle's husband Moss Hart. Reviewers criticized the play for its crude content, but it was a hit. The New Yorker's lukewarm capsule review some seven months into the show's two-year run suggests there may have been better things to see.
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| https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1954-11-13/flipbook/002/ |
Why seven months? It was in the "7th hilarious month" that the show's producers began to promote the play with a Charles Addams drawing:
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| "They laughed their heads off!" Charles Addams Promotional art for "Anniversary Waltz" (1954) |
The original art shown here was in the collection of the actor Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. It was sold at auction by Doyle New York earlier this month.
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| Verso |
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| The printed caption and Charles Addams's signature |
The sale took place on November 5. The estimate was $8,000 to $12,000. The art sold for $23,040 including the buyer's premium.
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| Charles Addams Doyle New York listing of November 5, 2025 |
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| Peter Arno and Charles Addams theater art |
Note: For Christmas of 1982, Charles Addams personalized a copy of his collection Creature Comforts (1981) to Mary Lee and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. It's in the archives in a post called "Charles Addams: The Flashing Festers." What could such a title portend?
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